Free Dragon Her Back (Entangled Covet) by Susannah Scott Page A

arms.
    “Can you just let him know I’m here?” he asked, all congenial again. “It won’t take a minute.”
    Lil moved a broad shoulder upward, dislodging her thick platinum blond braid. Although her face gave nothing away, Darius had the distinct impression that his insistence pleased her.
    His hackles went up. Although Lil was an ice dragon like him, she was from the far northern Scandinavian dragon fold. He didn’t trust her. Not for a minute.
    “You stay here, Muscovite.” She opened the door, went inside, and shut it in his face.
    Darius checked his temper at the racial slur. A Muscovite to a haughty northerner, like Lil, was a lowbrow city dweller who lived in socialist-era beehive apartments and had no cultural pride. It was also a minor mineral deposit with no value or beauty, an even worse distinction.
    He turned his head to listen to the noises from the apartment. The music and counting stopped. Lil said something in her low alto voice, and Lucy answered with a negative tone.
    A dismissing tone.
    Queen or not, he would not be dismissed.
    He charged through the door, only to find Lil ready for him. She leaped at him, her arms and right knee extended, to body slam him. Before slamming her to the ground, he caught her in the air and flipped her backward with a satisfied growl. “Stay down.”
    The Viking’s eyes were clear blue and calm. “You’ll regret this.” She bucked under him, and Darius threw himself on top of her to hold her. He pinned her with one heavy knee and twisted her long braid around his fist.
    “Enough.” Alec’s voice was sharp and commanding.
    He gave Lil one last glare before releasing her and rising. Alec held the red-headed Lucy protectively behind his back with one arm, a fierce glower on his face that said he did not appreciate the scuffle close to his mate. Darius angled his back to the entry wall so that Lil, Lucy, Alec, and the slack-jawed Maestro were in front of him.
    “What would the others think if they knew two of my lieutenants were fighting?” Alec said. “Chaos. That’s what.”
    Darius didn’t waste time defending his actions. “I need a word with you, in private.”
    “Lil, that wasn’t necessary.” Lucy had her right hand to her chest and a wide-eyed look of shock on her face. “I’m sure Darius thought you called him into the room or something…” She tilted her head to him, encouraging him to agree.
    He suppressed a sigh. He didn’t have time for this shit, but he would not be rude to the queen.
    “You are kind as well as beautiful.” He sketched a half-bow, acknowledging Lucy’s attempt to allow him to save face.
    “Okay then.” Lucy ran her hand down Alec’s arm. “We needed a break anyway.” At Alec’s frown, she added, “Well, I need a break. All that incessant counting. My God. If you’d told me I’d have to dance every time the moon comes up…”
    “What would you have done?” Alec raised his eyebrows, as if he couldn’t wait for the other end of her “if.” Palpable sexual chemistry coursed from the duo, so that Darius looked away to give them a moment of privacy.
    Lucy laughed, clearly not at all quelled. “Don’t be long.”
    “You royalnesses you mustn’t stop now. You’ll get cold.” The Maestro fussed in the corner. “Then we’ll have to start all over again.”
    Lucy rolled her eyes and squeezed Alec’s arm. “We better not have to start over.”
    Alec walked farther into his private quarters. Darius followed him across the gilded foyer of his penthouse and joined Alec in his private office.
    Darius had wrestled with his conscience after the confrontation with Mei.
    It hadn’t taken long. Never would he allow her to be harmed, but Alec needed to know if an attack was imminent.
    “What’s going on?” Alec asked.
    “I have intel that an attack may be planned at the Snow Gala.” He leaned against the pocket doorframe, effectively blocking Alec’s exit. It was a bold move, and the King’s tense perusal